“They call me the Godfather of produce,” says Mike Soufan, owner of Freestone Produce in Calgary.
But it’s getting more and more expensive for Soufan to reap the fruits of his labour.
Freestone Produce, like other Canadian importers, is feeling the pinch of a plummeting Canadian dollar.
Soufan says it making imported fruits and vegetables, many of them from the U.S., a lot more expensive.
“It’s making it very difficult for our pricing, it’s making it hard to be competitive,” says Soufan.
On Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at just over 71 cents U.S. or about $1.40 Cdn. for every American dollar.
Darren Cooper, Senior Investment Advisor with the Baun Pate Investment Group says there are several factors in the dollar’s decline to what is now its lowest rate in more than four years.
“We have Canada that is lacking competitiveness in our economic footing – the U.S. is strong – it keeps exceeding expectations – meanwhile Canada’s unemployment rate keeps going up,” says Cooper.
“At the same time we’ve got our main exports, which is commodities – crude oil being a big part of Canada’s economy – dropping – so our economic output continues to fall,” adds Cooper.
He says the Bank of Canada has also been cutting interest rates much more aggressively than the U.S. Federal Reserve, and that’s prompting investors to invest their money in the U.S. where they will get a greater return.
The owner of Freestone Produce says he’s trying to absorb most of the recent price increases by keeping his expenses and consumer prices down.
Pointing to a large package of blueberries, Mike Soufan says he used to make $3.00 to $5.00 per package sold, but now he only makes 95 cents.
Soufan says the increased cost of many imported fruits and vegetables means for some consumers, things like strawberries are quickly becoming a luxury item.